Last night's meal was everything that the previous night's was not. We had a wonderful selection of cheeses nuts pickes and cured meats to begin with. Then i had salmon with a goats cheese sauce and Johnny had chicken in a bed of cheesy sauce. Then there was chocolate cake and i had a soup of dried fruits nuts and soft cheese. Masterful!
The catfish were by the boat waiting for a feed and I think we saw the grandaddy of them all. This monster was at least two metres long. Our breakfast companions this morning were Natalie and Jean Claude. They hailed from between St Tropez and Cannes. They say its so beautiful there but so full of tourists that they look forward to leaving the area. Thry go to far away places like Patagonia. Next year they are off to New Zealand
On day 20 we planned to visit both Nimes and Arles, but we were so taken with Nimes that we stayed the whole day there.
We began with a drive to the Pont Du Gard, an amazing 50 km aqueduct constructed by the Romans to allow them access to the water they needed to support their lifestyle. Provence was a prime trading and wine-growing region. After Julius Caesar conquered Gaul (58–51 B.C.), Emperor Augustus set out to Romanize it, building and renovating cities in the image of Rome. The aqueduct was very well preserved and we were able to cross it by foot. It dwarfed us. The Romans installed a complicated system of controls on the water it carried into Nimes. In times of abundant water it diverted water to the houses and gardens of the rich. When water was scarce, the water flowed to where the people needed it.
We then drove to Nimes. The underground car parks here are amazing and relatively inexpensive. We emerged from underground to find ourselves in the centre of the city and a couple of hundred yards from the roman amphitheatre. Nimes had baths, and aqueducts and sports arenas. The entertainments were free. There were no gates, just 60 arches, allowing entertainment seekers to come and go freely. There was an excellent visualization of the process and we walked up through the stands and galleries. We has a hand held device to explain the significance of what we were seeing. The arena was filled with sand to catch the blood that flowed and it was turned over regularly to keep down the smell. It felt odd to be casually standing in a 2000 year old building that had seen so much life and struggle.
We grabbed a filled baguette and drink from the shops in the laneways outside the amphitheatre and then headed off to the Maison Carre. This was part of the Romanization of the city and is one of the best preserved Roman Temples anywhere. It was completed in 2AD. It also had a great visualization and that took us from pre-Roman times to the decline of Roman control. It was a very elegant centre-piece to the city. Before we left the central square we popped into a display of art work vying for the Marcel Duchamp prize. It was very easy to quickly walk past most of that work. I didn’t think that much of it would be around for 200 let alone 2000 years.
Our third stop was the Tour Magna. To reach it we passed along the Quay De La Fontaine. This was a very wide avenue of plane trees, flanked by amazing historic buildings. Down the middle of the road there flowed a wide green canal. I suspect the Romans and all the others that planned and constructed it were showing off how they could tame and use the water. The crossing streets were held up by decorative bridges that echoed the viaduct we had previously seen. The street carried us to a magnificent terraced park that made our knees shriek with pain. Having climbed the hill, there was a further slope to deal with then a viewing tower of some further hundreds of steps. This tower formed part of the defensive wall in Roman times. I made the climb, but with my fear of heights just couldn’t make it out to the viewing platform. I was happy to hang on to the handrail and wait for Johnny to finish.
The steep walk down was rewarded with a beer in the shadow of the amphitheatre once we reached ground level. Then it was back to the barge for a quick shower and a bit of a rest before going out to dinner.
Arles and back to Marseilles tomorrow.
